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“The more preoccupied people were with their secrets, the more effort they thought was required to keep their secrets, and so other things seemed more challenging,” Slepian told me recently. “The more challenged you feel … you judge the environment as more extreme.”

This phenomenon resembles grudge-holding, which has a similarly onerous effect. In a series of studies, participants who were asked to think about a time when they forgave a wrongdoer jumped much higher and perceived a hill as less steep than a control group.